A long catch-up

Quite a long one, so here are some cut tags:

So, I'm back from my week's holiday in a cottage in Scotland. I have many pictures of the places we went to visit: Drumlanrig Castle, Culzean Country Park, Edinburgh, Loch Doon. Culzean was a place I used to go to on weekends with my family, so I had fond memories of the place. I couldn't have hoped for better weather on the day we went there - blue skies and hot but not sweltering temperatures. Sorry for all the pictures of the stone bridge - I used to play on it as a kid; it was just as I remembered it, which was really nice :)

I'm proposing a biking holiday to Scotland at some unspecified point. The roads there are wonderful; quite often pristine surfaces, curvy, hilly and usually with a view into the distance so you can really go for the corners. That, combined with the fact there are simply many less people on the roads, and the wonderful scenery and places to visit in Scotland would seem to make it ideal for a trip - if the weather is good. Having said that, we did sadly see one bike accident during our time there. So, who's up for it? ev1ldonut, dylan, stuartl and mandalorean and Toni, I'm looking at you guys in particular...

My glasses suffered an incident while traipsing painfully pushing through the branches of the pine forest around Loch Doon; they are now very weak around the nose piece. I am going to have to seek a solution, but ultimately this may involve new frames :/

This morning I went out to buy some milk. Upon seeing a cheap fuel price at the local supermarket I spontaneously decided to fill up as well - only remembering when I got to the till that I had lost my wallet before the holiday and had no cash or ID on me. One embarrassed conversation with the supermarket's security guard later and I was on my way home to have the cup of tea with the milk I had gone out to get. Luckily, the replacement card I'd ordered had arrived but kissycat1000's mum had helpfully put the post on the side when she came in to water my plants while I was away, and so I had missed it when I first came in. After opening it up and signing the back (and having my cup of tea), I was able to go back and pay the cashier with my shiny new card. Whoops :)

I'm sure someone at GoodFella's is having a laugh - either that or they're just completely ignorant of pop culture. One of their pizzas came in a box with the slogan 'Share and Enjoy' written on it...

After reading gerald_duck's post about his Lexus LS400 MkIII, I'm seriously considering getting one. kissycat1000 is having issues buying a bigger car for our family outings; I've always wanted to own a V8 - and this one is not that much less fuel efficient than my current car - and significantly better performing. My only gripe is that it will be a quiet smooth ride, and not the growly loud sporty V8 noise I'm after. A look on autotrader tells me I could have one for the princely sum of ~3k. I'm rather tempted. Tell me why/why not, and point me at other V8s. Any car (not van/truck) considered...

Tomorrow I have my review, which should be interesting. My boss sounded interested in my proposal for a new team lead by me when I tested the waters with him, so I submitted a written proposal for it before I left for the holiday. I guess I'll find out what he thinks tomorrow morning - unless he bumps me back on his schedule again. But that could be tricky in itself as he knows I'm busy, and my review has to be in by the end of August.

I'd also like to take the time to apologise to those people who have been going through various things and posting about them. This applies to quite a few people. It's not because I don't read your journals. It's certainly not because I don't care. Sometimes I just can't express the sentiments I feel in a way that is appropriate for this medium, so I haven't commented at all. Yes, I know, I'm a crap friend - I hate phones and in fact pretty much any form of communication apart from on here or face to face. So I guess I'll just have to spend some more time with you all huh?

Finally, in more upbeat news, sepheri will be joining in the party celebrations to make the increasingly inaccurately named the Truly Terrible Trio's party into a foursome. Not that I'm complaining. I guess it's now the OMGWTFBBQ. So, don't forget to let me know if you're planning to come / want crash space / want to know where it is :)